Venetian blind



March 5, 1963 M. GREEN 3,079,988

VENETIAN BLIND Filed May 23, 1962 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVEN TOR. MART/NGREEN ATTORNEYS March 5, 1963 M. GREEN 3,079,988

VENETIAN BLIND Filed May 23, 1962 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 IN V EN TOR. MART/NGREEN Amy/L4 A TTORNEVS United States Patent 3,079,988 VENE'IEAN ELENDMartin Green, 155 Airrnount Road, Mahwah, NJ. Filed May 23, 1962, Ser.No. 203,674 6 Claims. (ill. 160-168) This invention relates toimprovements in blinds and is directed more particularly to blinds ofthe Venetian type which comprise a plurality of slats or louvres whichmay be adjusted spacially, partially rotated and which may be movedbodily to open and close the blind. However, most Venetian blinds havethe slats disposed on a horizontal plane, while in my improved blind theslats are disposed on a vertical plane, and when the controls are movedto open the blind the entire window opening is unobstructed by theslats, since the latter are moved laterally or in a horizontal sense.The slats are also moved about their vertical axes.

One of the objects of the invention is the provision, in a Venetianblind, in which the axes of the individual slats are vertical, of novelcombined means for supporting said slats on said vertical axes and atthe same time adapted to move said slats horizontally for varying thespaces between said slats and/ or for bodily moving them from open toclosed positions or vice versa.

Another object of the invention is the provision of novel means,connected to the bottoms of the slats for steadying them and providingpivots for permitting them to rotate in unison with the tops of saidslats.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent to thoseskilled in the art, upon a study of this specification and theaccompanying drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is a side elevation showing my improved Venetian blind andshowing my novel structural details;

FIGURE 2 is a view of my blind taken along the line 22 of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a perspective view of a bracket carrying plunger means forcontrolling the lower ends of the slats;

FIGURE 4 is a fragmentary View taken on the line 44 of FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 5 is a perspective view or" a buckle or a type employed in myblind;

FIGURE 6 is a clamp for lock ng the cords in set positions;

FlGURE 7 is a cross-sectional view of a modified slat employed in myblind;

FIGURE 8 is a cross-sectional view of another modified form of slat;

FIGURE 9 shows a cross-section of yet another modification of the slats;

FIGURE 10 is a perspective view of my improved racket, positioned in theupper left hand corner of the blind, for conjointly supporting a topsupporting element for certain oper rive elements of the blind, and alsosupporting some of the cord pulleys;

FIGURE 11 is a perspective view of one of my new and improved blindhooks;

FIGURE 12 is a view similar to FIGURE 2, in which the blinds are inclose order at one end of the frame for giving a maximum clear openingof the window;

FIGURE 13 is a view similar to FIGURE 1, except that the blinds per seare shown closed instead of open; and

FIGURE 14 is a perspective view of the bracket positioned in the upperright hand corner of the blind shown in FIG. 1. 7 Referring first toFIGURE 1, F, F, denotes the side frames of a window or other opening tobe spanned by the blind. Secured to these side frames are the brackets10, 11. The bracket 10 supports pulleys and rollers 12, i3, 14, and 3.5,while the bracket 11 supports the rollers 16, 17, 18. v

Referring to FIGURES 1 and 10 a bracket 10 has a horizontal leg 57 and avertical leg 5%. The horizontal leg has an elongated slot 19 formedtherein, while the vertical leg has a pair of mounting holes 62 formedthere- A U shaped bracket 5? is secured on said vertical leg near theupper edge thereof and the right band edge in any suitable manner, as bywelding. A shaft 6% is mounted in aligned holes in said bracket and hasthe roller 15 journaled thereon.

Adjustably mounted on the horizontal leg by means of screws as extendingthrough the slot 19 is a plate 62. This plate carries a stud shaft 63upon which the larger roller 12 is journaled, and it also carries studs54 and 65 upon which tie rollers 13 and 14 respectively are journaled.This bracket is carried in the upper left hand corner of the blind, asmay be clearly seen in FIGURE 1.

Referring now to FEGURE 11, the bracket 11 has a horizontal leg 57a anda vertical leg 53a, and this bracket per se is identical with thebracket shown in FIGURE it). It also has the elongated slot 19 and alsothe mounting holes 62. Mounted on the vertical leg 53a is a U shapedbracket 67 which is spot welded or otherwise, secured thereto. Thisbracket has a shaft 61 mounted in aligned holes therein, and the roller16 is journaled on said shaft. A second bracket 63 is also U shaped andis spot welded to the bracket leg 53a at a point which will clear thehead of a mounting screw in the hole 62.

The bracket 68 also has aligned holes formed in the ends thereof, and ashaft 69 is mounted in said holes and carries a roller 17, a spacersleeve 71, and a second roller 1%.

The elongated slots id in each bracket (lb and 18a) are for a purpose tobe presently described. Suitable means 28, FEGURE 2, comprising achanneled guideway has an elongated slot 28 formed therein. Thisguideway is placed on the brackets and is adjustably secured thereto bymeans of bolts 21 and 22, or in any other suitable manner. The slots 19are provided to allow the blind to be adjusted to windows of variouswidths, thereby eliminating the necessity of cutting the guideway 2b tovarious lengths.

A flexible belt or tape 23 is supported near the left side of FIGURE 1,adjacent to the top thereof, by the pulley i2 and it passes around guidepulleys l3 and 14, as best seen in FIGURE 2. These last mentionedpulleys permit the two parallel sides of the belt 23 to approach eachother when the belt is moved in a manner to close the louvers or slats,as will be hereinafter described, yet the pulling effect of the largepulley i2 is utilized for supporting and moving the belt.

The belt is split, and buckles 24', 25', and 26' and 27' or othersuitable means are inserted at these points to permit the belt to belengthened or shortened in accordance with the window opening.

Spanning the space between the sides of belt 23 and overlying the slot28 of the guideway 2% are flexible bridging members or short tapes 2?,which span the space between the inner and the outer portions of thebelt 23, and which have their extremities secured to said portions inany suitable manner, one of these transverse tapes 29 being provided foreach of the louvers or slats forming the blind.

A suitable suspension means, for example a wire hook element St isattached to each of the tapes 29, as may best be seen in FlGURE 4, andthe lower portion is in the form of a hook 31 which extends downwardlythrough the slot 28 and engages a hole in the upper end of a louver orslat 32 of the blind, and thereby the latter is suspended thereon. Thebook element 36 has lateral extensions 53 and 54 having on theirextremities embracing loops 55 and 56, respectively, for retaining thehook elements on the bridging members. Normally the tween the portions97 and 181 and to allow for the insertion of a decorative strip or sheet103 which is thin enough to conform to the bends above described.

A further modification of the slat is shown at 104 in FIGURE 9, whereina strip or slit has deformed por tions 105 adjacent to the edgesthereof, and mounted on the slat and embracing the deformed portions 1.35 a tubular member 106 along one edge of the strip and a secondtubular member 107 embraces the left end of the strip 104 and engagesthe deformed portions 105.

Although I have herein shown and described by Way of example a preferredembodiment of the invention and several modifications of the slats, itwill be understood that I am not to be limited to the exact showingsince many changes may be made in the arrangements shown and describedwithin the scope of the following claims.

I claim:

1. In a Venetian blind adapted to be mounted in an opening in a wall, achannelled guideway having a longitudinal guide slot formed therein,bracket members comprised of a pair of L-shaped members havinghorizontal portions and vertical portions, said horizontal portionsbeing secured to each end of said guideway, plate means adjustablycarried on the horizontal portion of one of said brackets, said platemeans being adapted to be adjusted thereon, means to lock said plate inan adjusted position, said plate carrying a main pulley with its axisvertically disposed and a pair of auxiliary pulleys adjacent thereto,tape means supported on said first pulley and guided by said auxiliarypulleys, other pulleys carried by said brackets with their axeshorizontally disposed for supporting and guiding cords, a series ofslats suspended from said tape means, and means controlled by said cordsfor varying the relation of said slats to one another.

2. The invention according to claim 1 in which a cord clamp is securedto one of said brackets said clamp being adapted to be manually actuatedin a position where at least one of the cords passes therethrough, forreleasing the cords.

3. A Venetian blind adapted to be mounted in an opening in a wall, achannelled guideway spanning said opening and having a longitudinalguide slot formed therein, pulley means supported at one end of saidblind and near the top, a tape spanning said pulley and extendingtherefrom, said tape having its extremities in spaced-apart relation, aseries of cross-tapes joining said extremities, individual meansreinforcing said cross-tapes and carrying hooks extending through saidlongitudinal guide slot, a series of slats suspended by said hooks,other corresponding hooks on the lower ends of said slats and extendingthrough a displaceable guide means, means to rotate said slats on axesextending between the upper and the lower hooks for changing therelation of the slats to one another, and means for displacing saidbottom support when it is desired to move all of the slats to one sideof the window and leave the latter fully open.

4. A Venetian blind according to claim 3 in which said means to rotatesaid slats about vertical axes extending between the upper and lowerhooks are comprised of a first cord connected to one of the extremitiesof said first mentioned tape and a second cord secured to the otherextremity of said first tape, said cords passing over pulleys supportedat one end of said blind, and in which a third cord connected to thelast slat in said group on the right extends to and over a pulley on theleft and thence to a pulley on the right and downwardly to means for disengaging said bottom support, whereby the first pull on said cordreleases the bottom support and a further pull moves the entire array ofslats to said first mentioned end of the window in close order.

5. A Venetian blind according to claim 3 in which said bottom support iscomprised of a web extending across the bottom of the window openingfixed at one end thereof and detachably engaged with an element on theopposite end thereof and means to detach said support from said last endfor the purpose of moving all said slats to the opposite side of saidblind, and a single control element within said blind acting to performboth functions.

6. In a Venetian blind adapted to be mounted in an opening in a wall, achannelled guideway having a longitudinal guide slot formed therein,bracket members secured to each end of said guideway and carryingpulleys some of which have their axes horizontal and some of which havetheir axes vertical, one of said last mentioned pulleys having asubstantial diameter, tape means spanning said last puiley, othersmaller pulleys engaging said tape means for guiding it to and from saidlarger pulley, a series of cross-tapes secured to the free portions ofsaid tapes on one side of said last pulleys and also secured to thetapes on the other side of said pulleys, a series of supportsreinforcing said cross-tapes and carrying hooks extending through saidlongitudinal slot and individually engaged with a series of slats,bottom support means extending from one side of the window to the otherat the bottom thereof and including spring means to keep the same taut,said support means being detachably secured to the window on one sidethereof, said bottom support also carrying upwardly extending hookswhich engage said slats near the bottom ends thereof, means to rotatesaid slats on the axes extending through said supports, and other meansindependent of said first means for disen gaging said bottom support andmoving said slats to one side of the window in a close array.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS309,258 Shelby Dec. 16, 1884 344,110 Johnson et a1 June 22, 18861,602,929 Parker Oct. 12, 1926 1,896,029 Gunther Jan. 31, 1933 2,180,863Clancy Nov. 21, 1939 2,296,010 Balthasar Sept. '15, 1942 2,503,441 KammApr. 11, 1950 2,558,225 Solomon June 26, 1951 2,782,848 Cereceda Feb.26, 1957 FOREIGN PATENTS 735,886 Germany May 31, 1943 1,130,070 FranceSept. 17, 1956

1. IN A VENETIAN BLIND ADAPTED TO BE MOUNTED IN AN OPENING IN A WALL, A CHANNELLED GUIDEWAY HAVING A LONGITUDINAL GUIDE SLOT FORMED THEREIN, BRACKET MEMBERS COMPRISED OF A PAIR OF L-SHAPED MEMBERS HAVING HORIZONTAL PORTIONS AND VERTICAL PORTIONS, SAID HORIZONTAL PORTIONS BEING SECURED TO EACH END OF SAID GUIDEWAY, PLATE MEANS ADJUSTABLY CARRIED ON THE HORIZONTAL PORTION OF ONE OF SAID BRACKETS, SAID PLATE MEANS BEING ADAPTED TO BE ADJUSTED THEREON, MEANS TO LOCK SAID PLATE IN AN ADJUSTED POSITION, SAID PLATE CARRYING A MAIN PULLEY WITH ITS AXIS VERTICALLY DISPOSED AND A PAIR OF AUXILIARY PULLEYS ADJACENT THERETO, TAPE MEANS SUPPORTED ON SAID FIRST PULLEY AND GUIDED BY SAID AUXILIARY PULLEYS, OTHER PULLEYS CARRIED BY SAID BRACKETS WITH THEIR AXES HORIZONTALLY DISPOSED FOR SUPPORTING AND GUIDING CORDS, A SERIES OF SLATS SUSPENDED FROM SAID TAPE MEANS, AND MEANS CONTROLLED BY SAID CORDS FOR VARYING THE RELATION OF SAID SLATS TO ONE ANOTHER. 